Calling all

BLENCO BLENCOE BLENCOW BLENCOWE BLENKO BLINCO BLINCOE BLINCOW BLINCHKO BLINKO FAMILIES
and their descendants from all around the world to gather in

Port Macquarie

New South Wales
Australia
For

The Blencowe Family Reunion

Friday, 25 to Sunday 27 April, 2008

Welcome to Greater Port Macquarie

Greater Port Macquarie is a thriving coastal region on the midnorth coast of NSW and is a popular getaway destination. Established as a penal settlement in 1821, the region presents a diversity of seaside and hinterland venues and attractions, blending colourful heritage with rich culture and contemporary coastal style. Situated 4.5 hours by road and a one hour flight from Sydney and Brisbane, Greater Port Macquarie is easily accessible.

Climate

Port Macquarie enjoys one of the best climates in Australia. The daytime temperature in April is around 26 degrees Celsius, with mostly sunny days, balmy evenings and starry nights. It’s little wonder that cosmopolitan al fresco cafes, bars and restaurants abound. Combine this with a wide range of quality accommodation, shopping and galleries, river cruises and water sports, and you have the perfect destination for an enjoyable holiday and successful reunion.

Accommodation

Port Macquarie has a range of accommodation to suit any budget.

For the budget conscious you’ll find a variety of affordable backpacker accommodations, family friendly holiday parks with comfortable cabins shaded camp and caravan sites and a wide range of facilities, all within easy access to beaches and waterways.

Choose from a range of self contained apartments – room for the whole family, with all the creature comforts of home – without the housework!

If you prefer the flexibility of motel or hotel accommodation, the choice is extensive, from affordable 3 star through to five star luxury with ocean views and 24 hour room service.

Welcoming hosts, offering traditional country hospitality, ensure your stay in a B&B, guest house or country retreat, will have a local flavour.

Leisure and Touring

Port Macquarie Tourism will assist us in weaving our colourful history, culture and local attractions into creative and social program with various options to cater for the families’ varied interests.

The Hastings River, with its expansive waterways, is the perfect backdrop for getting to know your distant cousins as you cruise “up river”, passing contemporary canal residences, oyster leases and farmland.

Commune with nature on a dolphinwatching cruise; visit a wildlife park or the Koala Hospital. The coastal and rainforest walks are easily accessible and have amazing scenery.

Visit the region’s many vineyards, tasting awardwinning wines at the cellar door.

Come for a week or more and simply relax on the golden beaches – three will have lifeguards on duty, toss a line in from a small hire boat, wharf, river bank or beach. Surfing lessons are available.

Energise and unite the relatives with abseiling, kayaking and highspeed water adventures.

Enjoy the delights of the region. Within an hour’s drive of Port Macquarie, you will discover the region’s heritage, bays and beaches, rivers and wa terways, rainforests and rolling hills dotted with quaint villages, cafes, shops and galleries.

Access and Transport

A range of travel options makes Greater Port Macquarie easily accessible for everyone.

Road
Driving time via Pacific Highway:
From Sydney – 4.5 hours
From Brisbane – 7 hours

The Oxley Highway connects the New England region and western NSW. Daily coach services connect Port Macquarie to Sydney and Brisbane.

Air
Port Macquarie is serviced by regular Qantaslink and Brindabella Airlines Flights. Flying time is one hour from Sydney and 1.5 hours from Brisbane.
For Qantaslink flight information and bookings: 13 13 13 or www.qantas.com.au
For Brinadabella Airlines flight information and bookings: 1300 66 88 24
or www.brindabella-airlines.com.au

Rail and Coach
CountryLink XPT train service between Sydney and Brisbane stops at Wauchope, a twentyminute drive inland from Port Macquarie. CountryLink provides a passenger coach connection to Port Macquarie town centre. Australian pensioners can use their rail pass free for travel in your own state and half price once crossing the border.

Greyhound and Premier both provide daily coach services from Sydney and Brisbane.

Getting Around the Region

The region caters for all levels of transport, from modern charter coaches to mini buses for airport/rail transfers. We will assess the needs of the group closer to the event. Most national hire car companies have branches in Port Macquarie. Taxi services and public buses operate throughout the region.

Your Reunion Organisers are Frances Forbes and Anne Burton – both Blencowe lasses from Leeton who now live on the east coast. We look forward to hearing from you and will supply more information. Email: blencowefamiliesaustralia@yahoo.com.au

At this stage we are after expressions of interest from people considering attending. We hope to encourage the various branches of the family to organise their immediate family reunion within the bigger world wide group. We realise that this is more applicable to the Australian participants; however, it would be good for overseas visitors to travel with a sibling, cousin or two.

Port Macquarie was chosen as it is an ideal holiday destination with activities that can cater for the most senior to the very young. It is also a good stopping off point for interstate and overseas visitors travelling from Sydney to Brisbane and other Queensland destinations. Depending on interest a pre reunion function will be organised for international and interstate travellers in Sydney prior to the actual reunion in Port Macquarie.

The official reunion will be held over the three days of the ANZAC Long weekend. This is also the last weekend of school holidays in several Australian states and New Zealand. We suggest that you come for more than the three days to make the most of what the area has to offer and we will coordinate bookings for some rather good extra activities either before or after the reunion weekend.

We recommend that you visit the Port Macquarie website http://www.portmacquarieinfo.com.au to see what is on offer.

For information from the Port Macquarie Tourist Centre

For more information from Anne or Frances

Watch this website for updates.

SeeyainPort!

Anne & Fran